Unfortunately, though, none of my friends are as 'nitpicky' as I am about the physics and futurism of sci-fi games, so none of them have really taken to Star Ruler the way I have. Even the 4X fans are too taken by Sins of a Solar Empire to even try it. Sadface.

Minecraft isn't inherently complex, it's very straightforward, hence its massive appeal. The complexity comes from what people can do with it.

Dwarf Fortress is a polar opposite, it's agonisingly complex and hard to get into, although you can still do crazy stuff with it.

Star Ruler has the best of both. It's increasingly complex, has consistently fun gameplay (Don't tell me that the mindless resource gathering in minecraft, or the waiting for dwarves to work is fun) and looks nice, something that neither minecraft nor DF are likely to achieve.